Arab governments are ramping up their green ambitions ahead of the COP27 climate summit, but show few signs of reining in fossil-fuel exports
Masdar City, Abu Dhabi's flagship low-carbon development, includes a tech cluster and residential neighbourhoods.The world’s green spotlight is tilting towards the Middle East as Egypt and the United Arab Emirates prepare to host the next two major world summits on climate change. Egypt’s Sharm El-Sheikh resort will be the site of the next United Nations, which begins on 6 November, and the UAE’s oil giant Abu Dhabi will host COP28 in 2023.
The next two COP summits will mark an “important moment” for the Middle East, says Carlos Duarte, a marine ecologist at the King Abdullah University of Science and Technology, near Jeddah, Saudi Arabia. It’s a significant change from the past.
Efforts are also picking up in other Middle Eastern Nations. Saudi Arabia — the world’s largest oil exporter — and its neighbour Bahrain have set net-zero targets for 2060; gas-rich Qatar, meanwhile, has announced plans to cut its emissions by 25% by 2030 and has created its first climate-change ministry. Israel and Turkey have both announced goals to reach net zero by the mid 2050s.
In the short term, the region’s nations are looking mainly to solar energy, wind and hydropower to meet climate targets, says Maroto-Valer. Renewable technologies and nuclear power accounted for 13% of Abu Dhabi’s energy mix in 2021 and are expected to reach more than 54% by 2025, says Awaidha Al Marar, chair of the Abu Dhabi Department of Energy.
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